Daughter of a shadow
by Laurel46
Summary: summary yet to come
1. prologue

The story of the hero of time has been told to each child born since the dark king's defeat. As the child gets older the story become darker, gaining more details being more realistic, more truthful. By the time the child is twelve they are told the full story as the hero would tell it. Then around the time they come of age at sixteen years old, they are told about the shadows.

Each person has one, they are dark and can move through the shadows, they can stow away in them. Each child is told to stay quiet about it, they wouldn't want to make the younger ones more scared of the dark. It is a well know fact that you can not kill a shadow. For no matter how much you run from your shadow it will always follow. Even if you shine a light on it, part of it stays and it always comes back fully.

The shadow of the hero of time escaped into hyrule field after his defeat in the water temple. He found his way into the ranch outside of Hyrule castle town. He tortured the young maiden there for months, then he became interested in her physically. Then the hero of time came and slayed the shadow once and for all with the master sword. Then he married the young maiden.

But the hero didn't actually kill the shadow, again the shadow ran off. He hasn't been seen since. And life did not slide smoothly for the young girl affected by the hero's shade, a child grew in her womb. At first the hero was happy, it never crossed either of their minds that the little child wasn't his. Then two months early, it was born.

The child had golden eyes and skin as pale as the moon. The hero continued to love the maiden but did nothing with the child. Then the child's hair came in black as night. The hero tried to rid himself of the child but the maiden wouldn't let him. She fled into the night, with her child to a small town called Ordon.


	2. Chapter 1

Olivia brushed her wet nose across my hand sniffing for oats. I rubbed her neck softly, her white mane flowing gently in the breeze. Link laughed at me. Of course one boy in the village was named after the hero. His parents insisted they just liked the name but we all knew better. " Even your mother doesn't have that good of a connection with a single horse Belladonna. I wish I was as good at archery and horseback riding as you are." He smiled at me as he ran a hand through his golden hair.

I chuckled playing with the skirt of my dress. "I'm honored you chose me to come along with you to castle town. How ever did you convince my mother to let me come?"

Link smiled and pushed me out of the way playfully so he could stroke Olivia's raven black coat. "You're my best friend Belladonna, and the best person with horses. Why wouldn't I take you along? Could you imagine Lily?"

I giggled at him as he threw his hands into the air, "Oh I'll bet we'll see the hero of time. I bet he looks just like you. Are you adopted? Are you sure?" Link growled tossing his hair away from his face. "The nerve of people, my parents have been happily together for years before I was born, but because somehow I bear resemblance to someone they've never met…"

"Don't forget you share the same name." I pointed out flicking my hair behind my ear. Link looked at me narrowly.

"Don't make me leave you here. I'll do it, I'll go off with just with Kagero." Link said crossing his arms. "I can't believe my father is letting me do this. I suppose he thinks we're safe right now. But I don't know, I just feel a little uneasy about all this." He gently petted Olivia's side.

I nodded my head turning to look at the dark wood sides of the stable. I wasn't the only one feeling uneasy. The horses had been spooked for weeks. Olivia had almost thrown me off the day before when we were walking through the forest to the hot spring.

Link smiled at me, "Let me go tell my parents goodbye and then we'll set up. I'll meet you at the exit to the village near your house. Okay? Good then we can say goodbye to your mom." With that Link set off going to see his parents. I led Oliva out of the stable, walking slowly out towards my house. I could see my mother standing on the porch from here. Her red hair flowing gently in the wind.

She had been nervous about letting me go. No matter how much I told her that no one would recognize me, She still got nervous about me leaving the village. I had been almost eleven years old when I was first allowed into the forest without her. She took care of the horses at the ranch in exchange for shelter and food for us. The owner of the ranch, Mido, was kind enough as people go. At first he had let my mother stay out of pity for the supposedly widowed women. But now he was desperate for the both of us to stay. I had my mother's voice and her gift with horses.

My mother smiled gently at me as she approached. She met me at the bottom of the porch and hugged me. "Mother please, I'm only going to be gone for at most two weeks. Probably faster if I can keep Link on track."

She nodded her head still holding her arms around me. "I know Bella, I know. But I still worry about you. All it would take is one small slip up and then your gone too." She laid her head down on my shoulder, "But you're growing up. And I have to let go sometimes."

We stayed like that till we heard Link coming on Kagero. Kagero was a pretty horse with a white main and light reddish brown fur. She had been the foal of my mother's horse. Unable to take care of it and Mido wouldn't let us keep it with his. She gave it to him. My mother couldn't have been more pleased with that choice. Kagero and Link were the perfect match, just like Olivia and I.

My mother stepped away from me, "Well you'd better be off. Promise me you'll be safe?" I nodded my head. I mounted Oliva and Link moved in front of me to lead the way. My mother watched us for a few seconds before calling out. "Have fun you two. Make sure you're back in time and stay safe!" Link turned back and waved at her.

We stayed pretty silent until we were deep into the forest. That was when Link began to speak, "It's not mine to ask and if you don't want to tell me that's fine. But what happened with your mother?"

I shook my head, if only I could tell him, but he would surely turn away from me. I watched Olivia's head bob up and down as she moved forward. "I'm sorry, I don't know. She refuses to speak about anything before we arrived here."

We continued in silence for a few minutes before Link said, "I'm sorry for mentioning it. It's obviously a sore spot." I just nodded in response.

We reached Beetle's house just half an hour later. Both Link and I smiled when we saw the man sitting before the fire in front of the wooden shed like building he called a home. "Good day Beetle! How have you been?" Link called out happily.

Beetle looked up surprised, "Oh hello Belle, Hello Link." A wave of his hand set the birds nesting in his hair flying away. A man was standing a little ways away from him, holding onto the reins of a white horse. "This man is here to check and make sure you two were coming. Clark, right?"

He wore thick clothes with the mark of the hylian knights on the right breast. His voice was deep and strong, "Yes, good now that you're here…" He made eye contact with me and stopped suddenly. Link cocked his head in confusion.

Clark unsheathed his sword and stepped forward towards me. Link instantly started pulling Kagero in front of me, "What are you doing?!" Link was about to pull his own sword out when I heard the leaves rustle wildly behind me as something fled.

Clark lowered his sword, "I'm sorry if I panicked you. Whatever that was it was reaching up towards your neck. It kind of looked like a person but it was completely black and coming out of the shadows." My hand instantly flew to the back of my neck. I hadn't felt a thing.

"Oh, thank you." I stuttered out moving to hold the pendant around my neck. My mother had given me the necklace when I turned five, until then she had worn it every day. Clark waved his hand, "I thought you were coming towards me. You wouldn't be there first person to panic because of my eyes."

Clark laughed a deep laugh and Beetle piped in, "Nothing wrong with a little Sheikah blood is there Belle." I blinked at him. "Oh come on Belle. You can't hide that from me, your connection to nature gives it away. Your father must have been a sheikah."

I shrugged then Link said, "We should be going. If we want time to actually look around castle town." We waved goodbye to Beetle and Clark. Then we set out for castle town knowing the further we got before night the better.


	3. Chapter 2

Luckily for us we could just barely see the walls of castle town when the sun set, there was a small inn outside each gate that we could stay in. We were about half a mile from the long walls around the ranch outside of castle town formerly know as Lon Lon ranch. If I hadn't been watching carefully to make sure we didn't stray from the path, I would have led Oliva right over him. But instead I saw him lying on the ground looking lifeless.

"Link!" I called out and pointed towards the person lying on the ground. Link instantly slid from the saddle and I followed. I held onto the reins of the horses as link moved towards the person. He knelt down and examined them. "He's alive but badly beaten. He's bleeding pretty badly. Get back on to Olivia." I did so and Link picked the man up. He struggled to pick him up and after he did he set him on Oliva. He positioned his legs on either side of her and leaned his head on my chest for support. I held the reins on either side of him holding him up.

Link hopped up onto Kagero and said, "Come on, let's go to the ranch quickly. We can get him help there!" He took off putting Kagero into a quick run and leaving me to quickly follow. We were halfway there when his head slipped from around my shoulder to the middle of my chest. Then his body shifted till his chest was against my arm and his head was held between my upper arm and my breast.I could just barely see his closed eyes .

To move him I would need to arms and then I would surely be thrown off of Oliva. So I left him there. As we moved around the walls looking for a way into the ranch. I looked down at the man and was surprised to see his eyes open. Red irises blinked a few times before slowly slipping closed again. We could see the entrance to the ranch now and Link was speeding up to get help. The man's eyes blinked fully open and his red eyes met my yellow ones. He looked so confused for a minute then he looked at me angrily. Then he promptly passed out in my arms.

When I finally pushed Olivia into the ranch, Link had already got the owner to come out. Link pulled the man into his arms and rushed into a building followed by the owner. Another man came up to me. "Hey, little miss. Will you help me put your horses into the stable?" He was a bigger man with little hair. "Oh, yes. The name's Talon. I used to own the ranch.

I tried not to stare at my grandfather. "Oh, my name is Belladonna. Will my friend and I be alright to stay here till morning?" I slid down off of Oliva.

Talon smiled tiredly at me, "Of course you can dear. We wouldn't turn somebody who needs help. What did your friend run into?"

I chose to ignore his question, "Where is the stable?" I whistled and Kagero quickly came over obediently following me at Olivia's side. Talon led me to the stable where I let Kagero and Olivia stay untethered. I then rushed quickly back to the building where Link and the man had disappeared into.

Link had cleaned the man up and removed his clothes. A small blanket cover from his knees to just above his belly botton. His face was scrunched up in annoyance with the pain he felt. His hair fell in dark locks feel across his forehead almost touching his face. He was incredibly pale. I kneeled next to him and took the wet rag from Link and started cleaning the rest of his cuts.

After we bandaged the man, I must have fallen asleep because when I woke light streamed into the room. It lit the room up but the light only actually hit half of the room. Where the man lay was still pretty dark. I moved over to him, I brushed the dirt off my leggings on inspected his bandages. I reached to take the change the bandages on his arm where he had bleed through but a large hand caught my wrist.

I tried to pull my wrist back scared but his grip stayed tight. He sat up quickly and pulled me closer. " Where the hell am I!" He growled at me. His eyes glowed with anger.

"The ranch outside of castle town. We found you passed out on the road last night hurt. I'm sorry. My friend had us bring you here because we thought you were really hurt but…." I stopped my rambling and made myself breath.

His grip relaxed around my wrist but he didn't entirely let go yet. He held onto my wrist as he studied my face. "Who are you?" He said calmly.

"My name?" I asked him surprised by his sudden mood change.

He narrowed his eyes at me, "Yes, your name." He scolded me like a child. He looked me directly in the eyes. I wanted to look away but for some reason I couldn't.

"Belladonna, my name is Belladonna." We continued to look at each other. Then Link turned over in his sleep. Both our heads snapped to look at Link. His grip tightened around my wrist painfully. His nails dug into my skin. Once Link relaxed and stopped moving I looked back at him.

"And what about you?" I asked him whispering this time. He looked at me questioningly, "Who are you?"

He laughed at me, not even in the slight trying to be quiet. "My name? You want to know my name? You make me laugh." He pulled me closer to him.

"Belladonna, hmm? What a pretty name. Well sweetheart…." He let go of my wrist but quickly grabbed my cloak pulling me closer. His lips met mine hard. Before I realized what was happening he pulled back. "Well goodbye, Nightshade." He blew me a kiss and slipped into the shadows. I blinked and looked at the empty spot of where he had been. Shadow, I thought. He was a shadow.

Link shifted and finally woke up. He blinked a few times and yawned. He lifted his arms above his head and stretched with another big yawn. He smiled at me. Then he noticed the empty space where the man had been.

"Bella, where is he?" Link asked standing up.

I lied saying, "I don't know. When I woke up he was gone." I hated lying to him but he couldn't know. Better to think the man was okay and had left then know we had taken in someone who might have wanted to kill us.


End file.
